“… and so I had to scrub out the mud baths because of it,” I shivered while talking to my walking companion. “The only good thing was they let me off early because of it.”

“I could have gone my whole life without hearing that a pony would do that,” Spike replied as he gave me an annoyed stare. “Why in the name of Equestria would you even tell me that?!”

“Because you asked me what I did today,” I chuckled, flashing him a shit eating grin.

I had found Spike on his way to my house after he had finished doing some work with Twilight. After he explained that Twilight gave him a mustache, I knew that the rest of the day was going to be interesting.

There was just one thing that had thrown me off slightly.

“I still don’t get why someponies like mustaches,” Spike complained while itching his chin. “It was itchy and felt weird.”

“It’s an acquired thing, I guess,” I replied while feeling my smooth face. For some reason, Spike actually hated the mustache and I actually found him with it still on.

Luckily, Aloe was willing to cut it off for him when we stopped by quickly.

“Then why don’t you grow one?” Spike asked as the town square came into view. “I thought you said that you always grow hair there?”

“I shave it,” I replied. While my hair growth seemed to have slowed significantly, it still happened. So out of the two and a half weeks I’ve been here, I’ve only had to shave twice to get the smooth feeling.

The only downside I had with it was that I had to use a straight edge razor.

“Makes me glad that I don’t grow hair,” Spike said as we came upon a growing crowed in the square. “Hey, what’s going on here?”

“I don’t know,” I lied as I looked for the others, a familiar looking stage sitting in the middle of the crowd. “But Twilight and the others are over there. Let’s go ask them.”

“Come one, come all! Come and witness the amazing magic of the Great and Powerful Trixie!” a blue coated mare called out as we made our way over, a stream of fireworks flared from behind her star covered purple cloak. “Watch in awe as the Great and Powerful Trixie performs the most spectacular feats of magic ever witnessed by pony eyes!”

“My, my, my! What boasting!” Rarity complained as me and Spike joined the group. I quickly kneeled down and gave my marefriend a hug and kiss as she walked up beside me.

“There’s nothing wrong with being talented, is there?” Twilight asked as she looked to all of us in worry. I already knew what she was worried about, but this was also an important lesson for her to learn.

“Nothin’ at all,” Applejack replied. “’cep’n when somepony goes around showin’ it off like a school filly with a fancy new ribbon.”

“I’ll have you know, I paid good bits for that ribbon,” I joked, earning some giggles from the surrounding ponies.

“Just because one has the ability to perform lots of magic does not make one better than the rest of us,” Rarity added, glaring at me slightly.

“Preach!” I quietly chuckled, earning a small shove from Fluttershy. Although she giggled at it, so I knew she found it funny.

“Especially when ya got me around being better then the rest of us,” Rainbow added with a smirk. But the glares she received from the rest of us caused it to fall and sift into awkward chuckles. “Eh, I mean, yeah… uh, magic shmagic. Boo!”

“Well, well, well, it seems we have some neighsayers in the audience,” Trixie’s high-pitched voice called out as she pointed a hoof towards our group. “Who is so ignorant as to challenge the magical ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie? Do they not know that they're in the presence of the most magical unicorn in all of Equestria?”

“Just who does she think she is?” Rarity quietly asked as she blew a raspberry.

“So, “Great and Powerful Trixie”!” Rainbow suddenly yelled at the mare. “What makes you think you’re so awesome, anyways?!”

“Hey, why, only the Great and Powerful Trixie has the magic strong enough to vanquish the dreaded ursa major!” Trixie proclaimed as a shower of sparks and fanfare went off behind her once more. I couldn't help but feel impressived as she made a picture of a bear out of one of the fireworks contrails.

“When all hope was lost, the ponies of Hoofington had no one to turn to,” Trixie began to proudly explain as she edited the image to fit her story. “But the Great and Powerful Trixie stepped in, and with her awesome magic, and sent it back to its cave, deep within the Everfree forest!”

“At least one thing she said is true,” I mumbled to myself. I hated when people were obvious liars, especially when it puts others in danger. But Trixie didn’t know that, and if I interfered, I could end up just making things worse.

I continued to watch as Trixie showboated to the whole crowd. She strung Applejack up like a young bull at a rodeo, spun Rainbow Dash like a top with her own rainbow and made Rarity rush off in tears with a swamp green mane.

“Come on, Twilight,” Spike begged as Trixie brushed her hoof against the gem of her cloak. “You’re better than her, I know it!”

I merely gave a heavy sigh, having decided days ago that I would do my best not to interfere with Twilight’s lessons.

“Perhaps you are still unsure of the Great and Powerful Trixie’s power!” the boastful mare shouted out to the crowd, re-drawing my attention. “What about you, strange ape, what can you do?”

“Scratch my ass and eat bananas?” I chuckled.

“Come now!” Trixie laughed openly with a smirk of her own. “Everypony is good at something. Come show the crowd so Trixie can show that she is better.”

“Might as well,” I couldn’t help but chuckle while getting up on the stage. Moving forward, some ponies tried to stop me, but I would simply tell them it was fine and that this was just how these kind of shows are supposed to go.

“So monkey, what can you do?” Trixie asked as I made it onto the stage.

“Uh… I guess I’ll do what I do best,” I replied with a shrug before beginning my act.

Completely ignoring her, I looked out at the crowd instead. Everyone seemed to stare at me with mixed reactions, some curious, some worried and even a few with disgust. But I was more focused on finding the lovely eyes of my marefriend.

“Fluttershy look, I’m on stage, I’m on stage!” I loudly proclaimed while jumping up and down and waving both of my arms in the air. “I’m gonna be FAMOUSE!”

“What in the name of Celestia are you doing?” Trixie questioned, drawing my curious eye.

“Huh? Oh, nice hat!” I said while plucking the pointed hat of the mare’s head and placing it onto mine, making sure it was oddly askew. “Quick, someone find me a broom!”

“What is he doing?” a random pony questioned, drawing similar responses from several others.

“Uh, Chris… what are you doing?” Fluttershy asked as she flew up next to me with a slightly worried look.

“Hey, Fluttershy! Like mah hat?” I asked looking at the mare while pulling the hat down with both hands at the same time and puckering my lips. “It’s currently all the rage!”

“Trixie see’s what you are doing!” Trixie suddenly snapped, taking her hat back with her magic. “And she will not play at such a crude level.”

“Why, are you stuck on level one too?” I asked with concern. “That stupid bandicoot never jumps when he’s supposed to, right?”

“Idiotic ape!” Trixie snapped with an annoyed stare. “Trixie said she would not act like a buffoon, as you are.”

“Acting?” I asked looking at myself.

This actually drew some laughs from the crowd as Trixie began to huff in annoyance.

“Fine then, Trixie will show you why she is the ‘great and powerful Trixie’!” the show mare shouted as she noticed how much more attention I was getting. The mare tried to take a step forward, but quickly tripped on her own cape and face planting on the ground. “Owwie, I got a booboo!”

What followed was pure comedy and idiocrasy gold.

What I saw brought tears, laughs and confusion to everyone in attendance.

It was like watching the Three Stooges meets Will Ferrell meets Adam Sandler meets Deadpool.

“Damn…” I said in my mock voice of Kirk Lazarus from Tropic Thunder, felling to my knees in defeat. “Should’a gone full retard.”

Standing in my living room, I watched through my front window as ponies went home for the day, wondering when the main event for the day would actually happen while going over the days events in my head once again.

“RAWWWWW!” something roared from outside a few moments later, shaking the whole house.

“What the buck was that?!” Gilda shouted as she rushed into the room.

“Oh, it’s just an Ursa minor,” I said while looking for the colossal bear. “As long as everyone remains calm, Twilight… will…”

“Dude… Ursa minors are blue,” Gilda said as she joined me by the window, worry beginning to develop in her voice as we both noticed the large purple bear . “That thing isn’t blue!”

“Crap!” I growled out as I saw the giant constellation bear enter the towns edge. That thing was a lot bigger than an Ursa minor and I couldn’t remember if the town suffered any real damage in the show.

But this thing could easily kill dozens with a single step.

“I have to go make sure no one gets hurt!” I told Gilda as I made my way towards the front door.

“I’m coming too!” Gilda proclaimed as she made to follow.

“No, your wing is still on the mend,” I quickly replied, pointing towards her cast. “Stay here and watch the house. If that thing makes its way over here, just leave the house and get to safety.”

“Stupid wing!” Gilda growled as I rushed out the front door. As I began to run towards the commotion, I was quickly followed by Geralt, who had been out in the backyard.

“Quick, everypony get to the farm cellars!” I heard Applejack’s voice called out as I made it to the town square. All over the town, ponies were running around in a panic as the Ursa Major continued to roar in agitation. Even though I was still a few blocks away from it, the creature still towered high over all the entire town.

It made my head spin with how tall it was.

“Run for your lives!” a terrified Trixie shouted as she ran past me and around a building.

“Christopher, what are you doing here?” Twilight asked as she suddenly popped up out of nowhere. “Its dangerous out here! You need to get somewhere safe until the royal guard show up.”

“People are in danger, Twilight!” I quickly replied, never taking my eyes off the towering monstrosity. “We need to ensure everyone got out of their homes safely.”

“That’s very admirable,” Twilight replied, looking at me with a smile.

“It’s what has to be done,” I simply replied, worried about the town. “I need you to distract the major with your magic, draw it away from homes or the town if possible. I’ll gather who I can and make sure the houses closest to it are clear.”

“B-but… what can I do?” Twilight stuttered, a terrified look in her eyes. “It’s an Ursa Major, I don’t know any spells that can do anything.”

“Twilight, you’re an amazing magic user,” I told the mare, giving her a reassuring grin. “If anyone can get that thing away from the town, it’s you.”

“R-right!” Twilight said, forcing a determined look into her eyes. “I’m on it!”

Without waiting to see where the mare went, I rushed towards the direction the ursa was. Before I even realized it, I already had a small group with me as we began to clear the houses closest to the monstrosity.

I’m glad we did too, because a few families and foals thought it would be safer waiting it out either in their own basements or under their beds. None of that would help if the entire building came down.

“There’s one building left,” Rainbow Dash shouted as she held onto a trembling filly. I quickly looked at the building Rainbow was indicating and immediately became worried. The Ursa was just a couple dozen yards away from the building and while Twilight's magic was doing wonders to keep the Ursa distracted, it was beginning to head for the building.

“I’ll check there,” I quickly told Rainbow before rushing towards the building. “You get that filly to her family!”

“Got it!” Rainbow shouted back as she flew off.

As I got closer to the building, it became harder and harder to run because of the earth shaking steps of the ursa. But that wouldn’t stop me from making sure that no one was still in the building.

“Hello, is anyone in here!” I shouted after forcing the door open. “If there’s anyone inside, please say something!”

“Help!” a young voice shouted out as the entire house shook violently.

“Keep talking so I can find you!” I called out as I quickly made my way through the small house.

“In here!” the voice called, directing me. “Please hurry, my mommy hurt her head!”

I quickly found myself inside what had once been a living room, but the shakes had caused everything to fall over.

“Please, my mommy wont wake up!” a young unicorn filly cried as she drew my attention to her and a motionless Derpy.

“Derpy!” I quickly said as I rushed over to the two. It looked like something had fallen off a shelf and hit her on the head, simply knocking her out.

“Is she going to be okay?” the filly, most likely Derpy’s daughter Dinky, cried openly.

“Don’t worry,” I assured the filly as I quickly scooped the two of them up in my arms. “She’s just unconscious, she’ll be fine once we get her to a doctor.”

“T-th-thank you,” Dinky cried as she buried her face into my chest. From there, I quickly made my way out of the house, only to freeze as I made it outside.

“Christopher, don’t move!” Twilight shouted as me and the Ursa Major began our staring match. The beast stood just several yards away, leaning over and looking right down at me. It was like the scene from Jurassic Park where the T-rex stared down at its intended victim, and like the movie, I knew it was going to strike.

The only question was when.

…

…

Maybe I could just wait her...

“AHHHHHHHHHH!” Dinky shrieked as she noticed what towered over us.

“Crap!” I cursed as I put everything into getting away from the striking zone. Just as I cleared the houses threshold, the ursa’s paw came crashing down, demolishing the house and sending a large amount of debris right towards use.

“Fuck!” I shouted as I dropped to the ground, using my body as a shield for the other two.

“And stay out!” Celestia shouted as she flung a bruised and beaten Ursa Major back into the Everfree Forest. The moment she heard word of the Ursa attack, she rushed out of the castle before anyone could stop her.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight's voice rang out, drawing the solar princess’s attention to the building that was demolished mere moments before her arrival.

“Twilight!” Celestia called back with a relieved smile. She was unable to stop herself from flying down and scooping the small mare up in her hooves. “Thank goodness you’re okay. I came as soon as I-“

“Princess, we have to save them!” Twilight shouted as she pushed out of Celestia’s grasp and pointed towards a large pile of rubble nearby. “There are ponies trapped under there!”

“Stand aside Twilight,” Celestia advised so as to not cause her student to see something in case the worst happened. But when she used a spell to check on whoever was inside, an even greater surprise greeted her.

“By my father’s beard…” Celestia breathed as she used her magic to open up a segment of the pile.

“How bad is it… wait don’t tell me, I’ve probably been run through haven’t I?” I quickly asked once I heard the tell tell signs that someone had made an opening. I didn’t dare open my eyes incase either I failed to save them or I was grievously wounded. “Just please make sure the other two are okay.”

“Open your eyes…” Celestia’s voice range from next to my head in a monotone voice. “Idiot.”

“Huh?” I dumbly replied as I opened my eyes to a surprising scene.

I was currently on my hands and knees with Dinky and Derpy laying under me, both of whom were awake and looking up at me with looks of shock and disbelief.To my left, about four feet away, stood Celestia with a completely dumbfounded look in her eyes.

But all around us was a strange gray mist, forming a barrier that kept all the surrounding debris at least three feet away from me.

“Who uh… who put up the weird barrier?” I questioned while getting off my hands. Reaching out, I received another surprise when I found that I could actually manipulate the fog with my hands. “Cool.”

“Chris, stop messing around with your magical residue and get those two out of there,” Celestia groaned.

“Huh… uh, okay…” I replied as I scooped the two ponies up again and carried them out through the opening Celestia had made. No sooner had I stepped out then the entire pile collapsed in upon itself.

“Thank goodness you’re all okay!” Twilight shouted as she rushed over to us. “I’m so sorry that happened! The ursa suddenly stopped paying attention to me and I tried to keep it distracted but…”

“It’s okay Twilight,” I replied while placing Derpy and Dinky on the ground. “Things would have been a lot worse without your distractions.”

“I’m quite proud of you, my precious student,” Celestia added as she looked at Twilight with a warming smile.

“O-our home?” a quiet voice said, drawing our attention to the mother and foal. Both were looking at the ruins of what had once been their home in horror as tears began to develop in both of their eyes.

“Where are we going to sleep tonight mommy?” Dinky began to sob out. “And what about Miss Snuffles and Mr. Gob Gobs?”

“Don’t worry my little ponies,” Celestia said as she brought the two homeless ponies into a hug with her wings. “Not only is the capital going to be paying for all repairs and damages, but I know the perfect place for you two to stay at.”

“Are you sure you both want to stay in just one room?” I asked as I set the small box of belongings down in one of the free rooms of my home.

Even if Celestia hadn’t, I would have offered the two a place in my home. While the ursa had done a lot of damage at the edge of town, Derpy and Dinky were the only ones to actually lose their home in the incident.

“This will be fine,” Derpy said as she looked back at her sleeping daughter on her back. “I really don’t want to impose.”

“You’re not imposing at all,” I said while leading the two to my own room. It was decided that the two would be using my bed until we could get something for them. “Like Princess Celestia said, there’s plenty of room here.”

“Well, thank you once again,” Derpy smiled as she tucked Dinky into the bed.

“If you need anything, I’ll be downstairs,” I said before beginning to walk out of the room.

“Actually, do you mind if I come down too?” Derpy asked as she began to follow me out. “Doctor said I need to stay awake for a little while.”

“Sure, come on,” I said while leading the way down to my living room. Once there, I joined Fluttershy on my lazy boy, the mare too afraid to sleep at her own home tonight because of the Ursa.

“Hello Fluttershy,” Derpy greeted my marefriend as she went ahead and sat on the love seat. She probably would have sat on the couch, but Gilda was currently sprawled out on it, fast asleep.

“Hello, Derpy,” Fluttershy replied as she laid down on my chest. She had a sorrowful expression as she looked at the gray mare. “I’m sorry about what happened to your home.”

“Dinky is safe, and that’s all that matters,” Derpy sighed as she looked towards me. “I really don’t know how I can ever repay you.”

“There’s no need to worry about that,” I replied as my hand absentmindedly brushed Fluttershy’s mane. “What happened was very traumatic, so I say just take some time off and spend it with Dinky.”

“I will,” Derpy nodded. “My boss actually gave me a couple days off to get better.”

“What are you going to do about your house?” Fluttershy asked with concern.

“I really don’t know…” Derpy sighed as she looked down as her ears laid flat on her head. “The place was a rental to begin with and the owner doesn’t even live in Ponyville. I don’t know if I can afford another place.”

“Stay as long as you need,” I told the down-trodden mare. “Princess Celestia basically gave this place to me for a steal and it’s way too big for me alone.”

“Ass…” Gilda suddenly grumbled as she threw a couch pillow at me.

“O-oh… hello miss… Gilda?” Derpy haphazardly greeted.

“Who the buck is she?” Gilda asked as she glared at the other mare.

“Gilda, that’s mean,” Fluttershy reprimanded with a stern glare. It was kinda weird because she was always stern or slightly aggressive towards Gilda, yet her shy timid self around everyone and everything else. I asked her about it once and she told me that she had to be, since she was the alpha mare of the small herd. “Derpy and her filly just lost their home, so they’ll be staying here for some time.”

“Oh, wow… sorry,” Gilda apologized with a slight wince. “Was it because of the Ursa major?”

“It’s okay,” Derpy shrugged. “and yeah.”

“Okay?” Gilda suddenly questioned with an annoyed look. “You just lost your home, you should be angry!”

“I-I don’t like getting angry…” Derpy winced. “It never really solves anything.”

“Still better than holding it in I always say,” Gilda shrugged as she got up off the couch and looked around. “How did the thing even wind up here?”

“Two retards decided the they wanted to see that traveling show mare take it on,” I replied, ignoring the glare Fluttershy sent me. “Little nimrods thought they wouldn’t get in trouble for it, but I wasn’t having that shit.”

“How did you even know it was them?” Derpy asked, looking confused.

“I have my ways,” I replied, giving Fluttershy a quick wink. “Besides, most ponies thought it was Trixie’s fault before I set that straight.”

That was one thing I had decided to change, seeing as half the town literally wanted to arrest the mare when all she did was her job.

“It was really surprising when Princess Celestia said that Trixie had gone to the same school as Twilight,” Fluttershy commented.

“Huh, okay,” Gilda accepted with a simply shrug before giving me a deviant grin. “That mean I should expand my nest for two?”

“I slept on sticks and twigs during my Marine Corps training,” I replied with a fixed glare. “I will not go back!”

“Your loss,” Gilda replied as she left the room. “Good night.”

“Wow… so the rumors are true,” Derpy said after a few moments of silence.

“What rumors?” Fluttershy asked as she placed her front hooves on my chest and sat up.

“That you were making a herd,” Derpy replied with a light blush. “And that you actually invited a griffon into it on the first day.”

“Well… she asked,” Fluttershy meekly replied with her own growing blush. “She’s actually really nice when you get to know her.”

“Gilda… nice? We talking about the same griffon here?” I chuckled, receiving a light smack from Fluttershy.

“Yes she is,” Fluttershy giggled. “She’s actually helped me feed some of my animals a few times.”

“And here I was wasting my time with work,” I chuckled, earning giggles from the other two.

We spent the next half an hour simply talking about day to day things. Derpy was apparently surprised to hear that I was working at the spa, and I was equally surprised to hear that the mare actually had three jobs to support herself, Dinky and all the repairs she had to pay for whenever she crashed into something.

I honestly hopped she wouldn’t have to worry so much about that with her staying at my home.

“…and I hopped back up and-“ I was saying, retelling a story from my highschool days. But a sharp knocking at my door interrupted me and drew my attention.

“It’s almost midnight, who the hell could that be?” I grumbled as I got out of my chair and went for the door. I didn’t even bother putting Fluttershy down as I cradled the mare in one arm and answered the door.

"Jefferson's cheese shop," I answered. "We got the cheese and we love to cut it."

“Good evening, Christopher,” Twilight greeted, fighting against a laugh as Princess Celestia stood just behind her. “Oh, and hello Fluttershy!”

“Eep!” Fluttershy chirped as she jumped out of my arm and zoomed off to the living room, earning a chuckle from me.

“Evening Twilight, Celestia,” I nodded, moving to the side so the two could come in. “Is there a reason that you’re here so late?”

“We wanted to check on you,” Twilight as the two walked in. But her obviously forced smile told me something else was going on. “What happened was a very trama-“

“I need you to come to Canterlot,” Celestia interrupted with a stern tone. “I was willing to let things pass when your ‘magic’ was only affecting your physical body passively. But with it having actually affected the environment like it did earlier, I need you to come to Canterlot and be properly trained on how to control it.”

“What?” I asked as I noticed Derpy and Fluttershy looking on from a nearby doorway. “Why can’t I just get Twilight or someone else to teach me?”

“Because your magic is also closely tied to your element by what I could sense,” Celestia replied. “If you were to have a magical burst or fluctuation, I doubt even my precious student could stop you before somepony got hurt.”

“I guess that makes sense,” I sighed while rubbing the back of my neck. “When do I need to go?”

“I was planning to take you with me now,” Celestia replied evenly.

“Can it at least wait until tomorrow… or in a few hours?” I asked a little off put by how soon she wanted me to just suddenly go to the nation’s capital. “I need to prepare.”

“Fine…” Celestia sighed as she used her magic to summon a golden ticket. “This will allow you to ride the train at any point for you and two others. I expect you to at least be on the noon departure.”

“Thank you Princess,” I said as I took the ticket in hand.

“I need a cake,” Celestia grumbled as she pushed past me and headed towards the kitchen.

“How long are you going to be gone for?” Fluttershy asked as she came out and nuzzled my side.

“It shouldn’t be longer than a week,” Twilight replied with a slight frown. “I am sorry though Chris. I tried to convince the Princess that I could teach you, but she’s very admit about you going to Canterlot to learn.”

“It’s okay, Twilight, I understand,” I replied, giving the mare a quick ear scratch. To be honest with myself, I was a little nervous about going though. Ponyville may have somewhat accepted me, but I could already see the problems I would face in Canterlot.

“Um, Fluttershy?” I called, looking down at the mare.

“Yes?” she replied with concern.

“I was actually wondering if you wouldn’t mind going with me?” I asked a little nervously. I doubted Fluttershy would want to go, but I really did want to spend some quality time with the mare. “If you want to, that is.”

“Oh… I guess I could,” Fluttershy meekly replied. “But I have to find somepony to feed the animals while I’m gone… maybe Gilda would?”

“Me and Dinky could do that for you,” Derpy offered with a smile. “I think Dinky would like seeing your animals as well.”

“I guess that works…” Fluttershy hesitantly replied. “But if you need any help, Rainbow Dash and Gilda know what to do.”

“I will, thank you,” Derpy replied as she gave Fluttershy a quick hug.

“Are you going to invite anyone else?” Twilight asked me.

“Actually, Twilight…”

“…and I can show both of you the best places to hang out!” Spike proclaimed as the train continued to coast up the mountain.

“Oh, I don’t know…” Fluttershy timidly replied. “Do you know anywhere were there aren’t a lot of ponies?”

“There’s a small coffee shop I know that I think you would like Fluttershy,” Spike replied before looking at me with a smile. “Thanks for inviting me, Chris!”

“I’m just surprised that Twilight said it was okay,” I chuckled as I lay across a few seats.

“Twilight has been saying I need to get out more,” Spike mused.

“Isn’t that ironic,” I openly laughed as the other two followed.

After a few minutes of laughing, we recollected ourselves and watched as the mountain city drew closer. I once again began to feel slightly worried as to how the ponies in Canterlot would take my appearance. Even when I had gotten on the train, I had received a few worried and frightful looks, but I knew that I would be okay as long as Fluttershy was with me.

“Why didn’t you ask Gilda to come though?” Spike asked, drawing my attention.

“She keeps saying that she wouldn’t be caught dead going to the hoity toity capital of the world,” I chuckled while sitting up. “When I asked her to watch the house while I was gone, she said she would prepare my funeral arrangements.”

“Canterlot’s not that bad,” Spike replied with a little grumble. “The ponies there can just be a bit… annoying some time.”

“I’ve only been there a few times myself,” Fluttershy said. “My dad works there.”

“I remember you mentioning that once,” I voiced, my interests peaked. “Where does he work? Maybe we could go and see him.”

“I-I don’t like to talk about it,” Fluttershy timidly replied as she began to fiddle with her hooves.

“We will be arriving at Canterlot station in five minutes, please ensure that nothing is left behind and please clean up after yourselves,” a feminine voice called through the cart.

“You guys ready?” I asked while taking a deep breath. “Cause the moment we get off this train, there’s going to be a lot of eyes looking our way.”

“R-really?” Fluttershy asked as she hid behind her mane with a worried look.

“Don’t worry Fluttershy, I’ll be the one they’re all looking at, so if it gets to be too much, just hide under my shirt or something,” I offered pulling Fluttershy into a hug.

“Okay,” Fluttershy smiled as she gave me a quick kiss on the lips.

A few minutes later and the train pulled to a stop to a large station. Even though this had been the first time on a train, my worry for what was about to happen completely overshadowed it.

“This is one small step for man *Krsht* one giant leap… for mankind,” I said as I exaggerated my steps off the train. I immediately became the target of several dozen different sets of eyes, most of which quickly filled with fear and disgust.

“Are you… Christopher?” a pony in golden armor asked, drawing my attention to a small group of royal unicorn guards. All of them looked the same with white coates and blue manes and tails.

It made me think of Shining Armor.

“Reporting as ordered,” I couldn’t help but blurt out half way joking and half way because I wanted to.

“Um, yes… if you would follow us, we shall escort you to the castle,” the guard uncomfortably replied. With a simple nod, my group began to follow, with Fluttershy pressed close to my side.

As we walked, Spike would point towards several different buildings and give us a little history lesson or recommend it for its food and drink. But that still didn’t help with all the stare's we received since I towered over most ponies by at least two feet.

“Place is bigger than I thought it would be,” I commented as we walked up to the castle’s front entrance. I couldn’t help but look over at the surrounding fields where I could see either small gardens or training guards.

“Construction for Canterlot castle actually began twenty years before Princess Celestia decided to move the capital,” Spike informed us as we entered the main foyer.

“I guess that paid off in the end,” I said to myself while marveling at the decorations and grandeur of the room.

“I see you finally decided to show up,” Celestia commented as she made her down the stairs. As she drew closer, everyone but me fell into a full bow, while I gave a simple nod.

“Bow you degenerate,” one of the guards quietly snapped as Celestia stood before us.

“It is alright,” Celestia waved off with a heavy sigh. “I will direct them from here, so please return to your posts.”

“Yes Princess,” the surrounding guards replied before rushing off. Although, most saw fit to shove their way past me in the process.

“That’s gonna cause some problems,” I sighed as I brushed Fluttershy’s mane with my hand.

“Maybe you should have bowed then,” Celestia replied with a smirk.

“Let’s just get this over with,” I sighed, waving my hand for Celestia to lead us forward.

“Fine then, follow me and I will be showing you to where you will be staying for the week,” Celestia grumbled before turning back around and heading up the stairs. “Spike, you can stay in yours and Twilight’s old room and the others will be staying in the guest chambers in the nearby hall.”

“Okay Princess,” Spike replied with a salute.

As we walked, I continued to look around at the castle decor, marveling at getting to see it all in person. In fact, a familiar stain glass window was slowly beginning to appear just up ahead.

“Wow, look at that Fluttershy,” I said, directing the mare’s attention to the window depicting the act of the elements facing Nightmare Moon. But something about the window quickly drew my concern. “But uh… that’s not me?”

Instead of actually having a crudely done picture of a human, there was just a gray orb shaped like the element on my wrist.

“Oh, my!” Fluttershy exclaimed as she stared at the window in awe.

“It was either that or a monkey,” Celestia replied. “Luna had it switched to that when she saw it.”

“Wow, thanks Princess, I feel really appreciated,” I replied sarcastically before continuing forward.

Celestia simply giggled before leading us forward once again. After about ten minutes and countless awkward stares, we arrived at what was to be the guest room I would be staying at with Fluttershy.

“This is where you will be staying,” Celestia said as she led us inside a large room. The main room consisted of a large bed, a desk, dresser and several small chairs and a couch. I could even see a personal bathroom off to the left.

“There's only one bed?” Spike commented with a confused look. “I thought this room was a double?”

“We had to switch out the beds to better suit, Christopher’s size,” Celestia replied before looking at me and Fluttershy. “I hope this doesn’t bother the two of you.”

“I-I d-don’t mind,” Fluttershy stuttered quietly as her face glowed brightly. I simply nodded before petting Fluttershy’s mane reassuringly.

“Well then, I will give the two of you some time to settle in,” Celestia said as she turned to leave. “There is still most of the afternoon left before dinner, so if you have any questions… ask Spike.”

Before anyone could say anything else, Celestia flashed away, leaving a confused dragon to stare at us.

“Uh… I guess I’ll go drop my stuff off at my room,” Spike said as he held up his one small bag. “I’ll be back in a little bit and then I can give you a tour of the castle.”

“Thanks Spike,” I said as the small dragon rushed out of the room.

When I turned around, Fluttershy was already laying on the bed, looking towards me with a bashful smile.

“Geronimo!” I shouted out as I rushed towards the bad and jumped into it. Fluttershy simply giggled as the force of my impact with the mattress, caused her to jump up a little.

“Nice bed,” I commented as I laid back and stared up at the ceiling. After a few moments, Fluttershy’s face filled my view as she came in for a deep kiss. This continued for a few minutes as the mare worked herself onto my chest as my hands slowly began to massage her back.

Even as she pulled away, I continued to brush my hands through her soft fur.

*knock knock*

“Chris, Fluttershy, are you two in here still?” Spike asked as he slowly entered the room.

“Eep!” Fluttershy chirped as she leaped off my chest, winding me in the process.

“Yep, still here,” I wheezed as I sat up.

“Cool,” Spike said as she fully entered the room. “So, are you two ready for the tour?”

“Lead on, Spike,” I chuckled while picking Fluttershy up from my side.

“Over this way is Princess Celestia’s personal study,” Spike said as he led us down another hallway. We were half an hour into our tour and I was surprised at just how big this place was compared to how it looked outside.

Another surprising thing was how the castle staff reacted to me. While the guards either ignored or glared at me, the maids and servants would continually come up to me and ask what I was or some other small questions.

“Will princess Celestia be in there?” Fluttershy asked as we neared a guarded room. She was still in my arms since I didn’t want to set her down, and with the constant nuzzling, it didn’t look like she wanted to be set down.

She’s so soft and warm!

“She shouldn’t be,” Spike replied as he stared at the guards in confusion. “She should be with the council right now.”

I watched with mild fascination as Spike walked up to the guards and began talking to one of them. His once curious look turning into a frown when one of the guards quietly replied to his question.

“What do you mean he’s in there? Princess Celestia banned him after that incident with one of the maids,” Spike groaned.

“What’s wrong Spike?” I asked while finally placing Fluttershy down, the mare slightly pouting in the process.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Spike sighed. “Just wait here while I go get Princess Celestia.”

“Uh…okay,” I replied as Spike wandered off, grumbling under his breath. “Kid’s getting shit done, I guess.”

“Um… excuse me,” Fluttershy’s soft voice called towards the two guards. When they looked towards her, the mare quickly hid behind me before continuing in an even quieter voice. “Who’s inside there?”

“Prince Blueblood,” one of the guards grumbled in a feminine tone. “He’s technically not allowed in there after trying to force himself on the attending maid, but there is very little we can actually do until her highness is informed.”

“I bet I can get him to leave,” I chuckled, knowing that he would probably run screaming like a little girl at the mere sight of me. “I won’t even need to touch him.”

“I’m sorry, but nopony is allowed inside the study without permission,” one of the guards quickly replied in an aggravated tone.

“Oh lighten up,” the other guard giggled. “That butler we sent in earlier never came back out, so if this… uh, guy, wants to take a crack at it, I say let him.”

“Well, I want no part in this,” the first guard replied while turning to look in a different direction.

“Okay then,” I began, shaking myself loose as the more carefree guard stepped aside to let me open the door. “Once I’m inside, keep the doorway clear. Don’t want anyone getting hurt by this.”

“Uh… what are you going to do?” the guard asked with a raised brow, a small smirk appearing on her lips.

“I really don’t think it should do anything,” the other guard groaned. “When the princess shows up, she’ll take care of it.”

“And we’ll get stuck on latrine duty again when the higher ups learn we let him in here!” the first one replied back harshly.

“Don’t worry,” I chuckled as I made my way towards the door. “I’ve had a little experience at clearing rooms.”

Carefully opening the door so as not to be heard, I immediately noticed my target napping on a large couch on the other side of the room… or I though he was napping.

His lower half had a blanket with a very obvious bulge going up and down.

I quickly looked back at those behind me to see mixed reactions. Fluttershy’s face was a glow and she seemed to be looking everywhere but into the room. The care free guard at first looked confused, then began to fight back laughter. The other ended up looking into the room anyways, looking confused, then sad and finally appalled.

“This is going to be easier than I thought,” I inwardly chuckled; pretty sure I knew what was going on now. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much cover leading up to the stallion besides a few large cushions and a coffee table.

After a moment’s thought, I dropped down low into a Spiderman crawl, since I would have more control and not have to worry about making a dragging noise as I moved forward.

Moving carefully, I slowly made my way around the room, using what little cover I could in the off chance that Blueblood happened to open his eyes.

“Hmmm, yes,” I heard the stallion blissfully sigh as I finally made it behind the couch. Lying flat on the ground, I quickly came up with a plan that would be prefect. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long for my que.

“I-I’m about…” Blueblood began to grunt. If what I was about to do wasn’t so hilarious, I probably would have gotten sick hearing that, but I ignored that feeling and jumped up and raised my arms over my head.

“FUCK YEAH! CHOCK! CHOCK! CHOCK!” I shouted as Blueblood shirked in terror, his eyes bulging when he noticed me. Then, his shrieks went even high pitched as his face shifted to the bulge of the blanket and he began to cringe in pain.

“Hardcore parkour!” I continued jumping clean over the couch, grabbing the blanket while in midair. I didn’t even bother to look back as I began to rush towards the door.

“For FREEDOM!” I shouted as I rushed out the door… and right into the brick wall known as Celestia.

“Would you mind explaining to me why you were in my personal study?” Celestia ask through gritted teeth, having not moved an inch after I barreled into her, resulting in me laying on the ground.

“OH RAH!” I simply shouted back from the floor, still hyped up on adrenaline.

“Owwww!” a pained groan shouted from back into the room.

“What is going…” Celestia began to ask as she looked past me and into the room curiously. Almost immediately, her expression turned to shock and for a brief moment, amusement, then right into agitation.

“Corporal Silver,” Celestia groaned, addressing the one guard that wasn’t currently laughing hysterically at what she saw happen. “Go fetch a physician… and some ice.”

“Right away your highness,” the one guard replied before rushing off.

“Sargent Heart,” Celestia addressed the laughing mare. It took a few seconds, but the mare was able to compose herself enough to stand at attention.

“Yes ma’am!” Heart replied with a salute, still smirking.

“Go fetch the head maid,” Celestia told the mare, raising a brow at the guard while keeping a stern expression. “And be sure to return with her.”

“Y-yes, your highness,” Heart stuttered before rushing off.

After the guard rushed off, Celestia fixed her gaze back on me with that all too familiar look. I stared back at her for a few moments as my adrenalin finally began to settle.

“Uh… I got you a present,” I muttered out, holding the blanket out for the princess while sitting up.

Celestia simply huffed in agitation as she took the blanket in her magic and went into the study; slamming the door before I could see anything inside.

“So…” I uncomfortably replied while turning to Fluttershy. The mare was standing just next to the closed door with a glowing face and an uncomfortable look. “Should we stay or…”

“How many times have I told you to stay out of this room!” Celestia’s voice shouted out. While it defiantly wasn’t enough to shake the castle, it still caused me and Fluttershy to cringe. “Not only that, but you used this blanket in your sick act to get off!

“I got this over one hundred years ago as a gift from a filly who simply wanted to meet me and you decide to try and soil it?!” Celestia continued. “And you! I hope you enjoyed what you were doing because I will personally ensure that you clean every toilet in this ENTIRE castle! Am I understood?!”

“Yes ma’am!” a stallion’s voice replied loudly.

“We should…”

“Christopher, I swear to my father, you had better not leave!” Celestia’s voice called out as I was about to stand up and vamoose.

“Crap…” I sighed as I noticed Spike chuckling just around the corner. I quickly pointed a finger at him and directed him to come close.

“What?” Spike chuckled as he made his way over.

“Just get, Fluttershy outta here,” I sighed while reaching over and giving the mare a reassuring pat on the head. “She doesn’t need to stick around for this.”

“I-it’s a-alright…” Fluttershy replied as she tried, and failed, to look me in the eyes.

“Just continue the tour with Spike, Flutters,” I told the mare reassuringly. “I’ll see you after I get another scolding from the princess.”

“Okay…” Fluttershy replied before giving me a small kiss.

“I’ll see you soon,” I told the mare as she hesitantly began to follow Spike down the hall.

“Okay,” I sighed as I found myself alone in the hall, still sitting on the ground. “Now what do I do?”

“I have to admit,” Heart said as we passed another hall. “I never expected this to be my last assignment.”

“Wait, I didn’t hear anything about you being kicked out?” I said while looking down at the armored mare. After Heart had returned with the head maid, an old crotchety unicorn mare, Celestia chewed me out a bit for going into the room without permission while also thanking me for retrieving the blanket before anything could be spilled on it.

But the real kicker was when she assigned Valiant Heart to be my personal guard for the next two days. I’m pretty sure she did that because of the death glare and mumbled threats Blueblood gave me when he finally saw me.

“Oh, I’m not,” Valiant chuckled. “This is my last week in the guard. I decided that I’ve spent enough time in the guard. I wanna settle down now… probably start a family.”

“Huh, so how old are you then?” I asked.

“It’s not polite to ask a mare her age you know,” Valiant giggled. “But I’m 26.”

“Well, I wish you luck in that,” I replied with a nod as we made it to the dining hall. Upon entering, I found Fluttershy, Spike and Princess Luna all sitting at one end of a very large table.

“Hello everyone,” I greeted as I made my way to the open seat next to Fluttershy and Luna. As I sat down, I spared Luna a quick glance, noticing that she was almost fully grown now and that her mane was starting to sparkle even brighter.

“Sup,” Luna greeted, putting some of my modern day speech lessons to use. “How ya doin homie?”

“Luna, I told you those terms as a joke,” I chuckled out as Fluttershy gave a nuzzle to my cheek. “Tone it down a little bit.”

“We are sorry,” Luna sighed. “It is quite hard for us to grasp such change.”

“It’s alright Princess,” Spike said. “You’ll get the hang of it.”

“Thank thee, Spike,” Luna nodded before looking at Valiant. “And who pray tell are thee guard?”

“Sargent Valiant Heart ma’am,” Valiant replied with a crisp salute. “Princess Celestia has given me the task of guarding Christopher for the next two days your highness.”

“And why is that?” Luna asked as she looked at me. With a smirk on my lips, I quickly recounted what had happened when Spike brought us past Celestia’s personal study.

“… so I’m sure Blueball’s has it out for me now,” I chuckled as I received a slightly disapproving look from Fluttershy.

“That is most amusing,” Luna openly laughed. “We are happy to hear that he was unable to talk his way out of punishment.”

“It still shouldn’t have happened to begin with,” Celestia sighed as she entered the room. “I have told him countless times to stay out of that room, but he still doesn’t listen.”

“Good evening sister,” Luna said as she stood up and gave her sister a hug.

“Aww, that’s adorable,” I chuckled as Fluttershy and Spike gave little giggles and chuckles as well.

“Yes, well,” Celestia said as she took her seat at the head of the table. “Before we begin our meal, I would like to discuss the plan for the rest of the week.”

“Okay, so what should I expect?” I asked, placing my forearms on the table, but not my elbows.

I’m classy like that.

“For most of tomorrow, you will be attending a special class with an instructor who will teach you how to call upon your magic,” Celestia began. “After that, you will be taught specifically by…”

“Us,” Luna replied, drawing a confused and shocked look from me. “By what our sister says, you possess a rare form of magic knows as miasma. It is a very rare form of magic that most do not even know of. One, that we are a master of.”

To prove her point, Luna’s horn glowed. But instead of energy like flame, her horn was encased in a indigo cloud that seemed to cascade down her face before disappearing into the air.

“Anything else?” I asked.

“After a week, you should have enough control that you may safely return to Ponyville,” Celestia replied.“At which point you will continue your studies alongside Twilight.”

“And you shall report your discoveries to us!” Luna added with a large smile, practically radiating pure joy. “We shall expect weekly letters.”

“You can’t be serious?” I chuckled looking at Luna. I almost immediately felt bad as her ears dropped and she frowned with a sad look in her eyes.

“I mean… yeah, I’ll write letters,” I said with a forced smile, causing Luna to perk back up.

The next morning, I woke up early. I didn’t bother moving though, as I found Fluttershy pressed snuggly against my chest with one of her wings draped over my side. While one hand was under my pillow, the other was placed on the mare’s lower waist.

This wasn’t the first time I had woken up in this position with Fluttershy. But whenever I did, I always had to fight the part of me that wanted to reach lower and grab a hand full of her flank. Gilda let me do it all the time, but Fluttershy was still against doing anything more intimate than kissing.

ponies are weird...

That also brought on the confusion of why Fluttershy let Gilda into the herd in the first place. We barely knew the griffoness when she first showed up, even now I was sure that she was still hiding a few things, and yet she accepted her so easily.

I tried looking in a book about it, but all I could find was a book on a herd’s rank structure. But that wasn’t my concern at the time, so I just put the book away.

So at points like this, I just attributed it to Fluttershy’s kindness.

“Hmm, good morning,” Fluttershy’s voice softly spoke, drawing my attention to the slowly awakening mare.

“Good morning, Fluttershy; Sleep well?” I asked, giving the mare a tender kiss.

“Whenever I’m with you, I do,” Fluttershy replied as she brushed her wing against my side. We stayed like this for a few minutes before Fluttershy looked up at me with a slightly glowing face.

“What is it Fluttershy?” I asked while brushing some of the mare’s mane back.

“I-Its just… you can… you know…” Fluttershy began to mumble out as she looked me in the eye.

“What?” I asked.

“M-my flank,” Fluttershy stuttered. “I-its okay if you want to touch it… if you want.”

“Really?” I asked in surprise. When the mare sheepishly smiled back with a nod, I couldn’t help but smile gleefully myself.

Moving slowly, I reached my hand back down, tracing Fluttershy’s curves as my hand slowly made its way to her plot. After a few moments, my hand reached a region that had more give than most others and also caused the mare to squeak quietly.

For a few minutes, this was all I did. The only change being when Fluttershy moved to my chest and my other hand met her other plot cheek.

“O-oh… m-my!” Fluttershy panted as I began to squeeze her flanks more firmly. By this point, I had a painful hard on. The only thing keeping it contained was my briefs and sweatpants.

I couldn’t help but revel at how soft her posterior was. The way my hands would just naturally sink into them while being more than enough to fill my hands.

“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” I voice giggled, causing Fluttershy to jump in fright and hide behind the bed.

“God damn it, Heart!” I groaned out as the guard made her way in, a smile playing across her lips.

“Oh, don’t stop on my account,” Valiant giggled as she noticed the bulge in my pants since I had discarded the blanket earlier. “Besides, it looks like you aren’t anywhere near done.”

“I-I’m sorry, Chris,” Fluttershy said as she came out from behind the couch. “I-I’m still not ready for…”

“It’s alright Fluttershy,” I replied, giving the mare a quick kiss on the nose. “Take as much time as you need.”

“You know, I could help with that,” Valiant said in a slightly husk voice, drawing mine and Fluttershy’s shocked looks. “If you don’t mind that is.”

“Uh… I don’t think…”

“I don’t mind,” Fluttershy interrupted me, with a slightly glowing face.

“Great,” Valiant chirped as she removed her helmet, revealing a blue mane with her white coat.

“I’m going to go take a shower than,” Fluttershy said as she began to heads towards the bathroom.

“Uh… do I get a say in this?” I asked, only to be ignored.

“Take your time,” Valiant replied as she got onto the bed with me and placed her head at my lap. “We’ll be right here.”

“I needed that,” Valiant sighed as she fell to her side in bliss. “Three years is way too long for a mare.”

“G-glad I could help?” I said as I pulled my pants back up and not a moment too soon, since Fluttershy chose that moment to leave the bathroom. A towel wrapped around her mane and a smile on her face.

“It’s your turn, Christopher,” Fluttershy chirped as she came up to the side of the bed.

“R-right… I’ll just be a few minutes then,” I quickly replied, getting up and heading towards the bathroom.

“Thanks for that,” Valiant sighed blissfully once Christopher was gone in the bathroom. “Nopony’s treated me like that in years.”

“I-I don’t mind,” Fluttershy replied sheepishly as she finished drying her mane. “Would you like to join?”

“Join? Join what?” Valiant asked as she decided to finally get out of the bed and do her job.

“Our herd,” Fluttershy offered with a smile.

“But you hardly know me,” Valiant said as she replaced her helmet. “Heck, neither of you even know what I look like because of the enchantment on my armor.”

“That doesn’t mean there isn’t time to learn,” Fluttershy offered.

“Well… I guess I wouldn’t mind seeing if this could work out,” Valiant nodded as she looked towards the bathroom. Being honest, she did find Christopher handsome, in an exotic kind of way, and she wouldn’t mind seeing just what he could do. “I take it you’re the Alpha mare?”

“Yes I am,” Fluttershy proclaimed proudly. A part of her always liked hearing that.

“Then sign me up,” Valiant smiled while licking her lips.

“Feelin’ all squeaky clean now,” I chuckled out as I walked back into the room, my lower halve securely wrapped up in a towel. Normally, I feel a little self-conscious when wearing so little around others, but when one of them is your marefirend and the other just gave you a BJ; you learn to not give a fuck.

Like a boss!

The other two remained silent as I went over to one of my bags and pulled out my cammies. Out of everything I had, they were the most durable as well as fire retardant.

That and they were one of the only things I had clean at the time. I couldn’t afford my own washer and dryer yet and Aloe and Lotus wouldn’t let me use the ones at the spa.

“What kind of outfit is that?” Valiant asked as I finished buttoning my blouse.

“They’re my cammies. The uniform I wore back home,” I replied while checking to make sure everything was tucked in right.

“Uniform? What do you mean?” Valiant asked, looking more confused by the second.

“Well, as you know, I’m not from this world,” I began to explain. “But I was in the military for my home country.”

“Really now?” Valiant asked with a smirk before whispering something to Fluttershy, causing the mare to giggle.

“What's so funny?” I asked.

“I just said “I think I’m going to like being in this herd”,” Valiant chuckled.

“What?” I asked looking at Fluttershy. I looked towards her for simply a moment before sighing and giving a shrug.

“Now then, if you would follow me, it’s time for breakfast,” Valiant said as she began to lead the way out.

“Uh, don’t you wanna take a shower first?” I quickly pointed out feeling a little embarrassed myself. “I think I can still see something in your tail.”

“I think I’ll leave it,” Valiant replied with a devious smirk. “It’s a great conversation starter.”

“I thought you said he would be here by now?” I asked, turning to look at Celestia.

“Well he isn’t,” Celestia groaned from her place in a small hut. She and Fluttershy sat in the shaded area with Valiant and two other guards standing watch. Although, Valiant would give me a quick wink every now and then.

“Can I at least wait with you under the shade? It is uncomfortably hot out here,” I honestly whined. Not only did I not have a hat because Rainbow Dash stole my cover again, but I had a nagging feeling that Celestia was purposely making me feel hotter.

And not in the good kind of way.

“No, you’re all sweaty,” Celestia simply replied as she took a sip of her tea.

Fun fact, the tea she has here, actually tastes horrible. I don’t know what it is, but it all honestly tastes like shit to me.

I blame Celestia.

I gave a large groan as I fell to my back and stared up into the sky. Every few minutes, I could see a Pegasus fly by or a stray cloud wonder through. The sound of beating hooves drew me from my musings as they became louder over time.

“I am so sorry I am late!” a masculine voice suddenly called as a couple of pebbles hit me from the pony stopping abruptly.“My little filly thought it would be fun to play with daddy’s clock.”

“It’s alright, Focus,” Celestia replied as I heard her begin to move. I just continued to lay there, a part of me hoping that if I didn’t move, they couldn’t see me. “Things happen.”

“Yes well, is this the… human?” the new voice asked as it seemed to taper off at the end.

“Yo!” I replied lifting one arm into the air and nothing else.

“How is this… I thought… how can he?” the voice began to mumble as a navy blue stallion suddenly appeared in my face. His orange mane brushed back as he looked at me with his yellow eyes in a mixture of fascination and confusion.

“Dude, back up a bit!” I blurted out, finally moving just to get away from the stallion.

Once I was clear, I quickly stood up and prepared to complain about personal space when I actually looked at him. There wasn’t anything wrong with him, but something about him simply seemed… off.

“Uh…” I dumbly replied while staring at the stallion.

“Christopher, allow me to introduce Focused Mind,” Celestia began, drawing my attention.

“But you can just call me John,” Focused said as he took a step towards me and held out a hoof.

“J-john?” I stuttered out as the gears in my head began to turn. “Does that mean that you are… I mean were…”

“Human?” John finished with a small chuckle. “Yes, I was. Showed up about eight years ago and turned into the unicorn you see before you. After freaking out, Princess Celestia found me, a little bit of this and that; now I have a job as a teacher, a loving wife and two foals of my own.”

“Wow,” I said, still in shock about meeting a pony that had once been human. “So you’re going to show me how to use my magic?”

“I’m going to try,” John offered with a shrug. “When I changed, it didn’t take me long to figure it out on my own. But somehow, you're still human. Do you know how that’s possible?”

“That would be this thing,” I said as I showed him my brace. A quick explanation later and he was nodding his head.

“I guess that makes sense,” John sighed with a slight frown. “Kinda wish I had one when I first showed up.”

“Why don’t you begin with your lessons,” Celestia chirped, obviously trying to increase the mood of the unicorn.

“Yes, of course Princess,” John replied with a nod before turning to me. “Now first, I need you to…”

“I must admit,” John said as my right arm was engulfed in a gray cloud for the tenth time in a row. “You’re a lot better at this than I thought you would be.”

“Is that supposed to be a complement or insult?” I asked while flicking my wrist to dispel the miasma.

One of the tricks John showed me to both activate and dispel my magic was to tie it with an action. He attributed it to muscle memory, so that it would be easier for me to grasp.

“Take it as you want it,” John said with a nod. “But by the looks of things, I have taught you all I can for what was requested of me.”

“Really?” I asked disappointed. “I was actually hoping to get to know you better.”

“And I’d like that, but I gotta get home before the wife begins to worry,” John chuckled as he pulled out a small card from hammer space and floated it over to me in his magic. “This is my address, so send me a letter if there’s anything you want to know.”

“I will, thanks,” I replied as I put it in my wallet.

“Princess Celestia, everypony,” John said with a bow before leaving.

“Congratulations Chris,” Fluttershy said as she quickly rushed over to me and nuzzled my side.

“I must admit, it’s a surprise seeing that it only took you a few hours to be able to summon your magic,” Celestia said as she made her way over.

“I was always a fast learner,” I shrugged.

“Yes well, come. It is time for lunch,” Celestia said as she began to walk back to the castle. As we walked, I continually flicked my wrist, turning the flow of my magic on and off, relishing in the cool feel it left behind.

It was weird knowing that the gray smoke escaping from my arm was actually magic, let alone my magic. I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of things I could do.

Would I be a wizard like Harry Potter? Fighting secret cults and a foe who must not be named?

What if I had the power to take over the world?

“Uh, Chris? You doing okay there?” Valiant asked as both she and Fluttershy stared at me with looks of concern.

“I. Have. THE POWER!” I gleefully shouted, raising my smoke covered arm into the sky.

“We’re all doomed,” Celestia groaned as the others laughed.

“I think it was funny,” Spike chuckled, coming out of nowhere.

“Spike,” I said, looking down at the small dragon. “Is it all set up?”

“Tonight at six o’clock,” Spike replied with a thumbs up.

“What’s at six o’clock?” Celestia questioned with a worried look.

“Why, mine and Fluttershy’s date of course!” I proclaimed while sweeping the mentioned mare up, causing her to giggle. “We’re in Canterlot, so why shouldn’t we?”

“Because I don’t need you causing a panic through the streets,” Celestia replied sternly.

“Bah, I can handle a few stuck up nobles,” I replied while cradling Fluttershy like a baby and scratching her tummy. It was actually really cute because she seemed to love it while completely embarrassed since others could see her. “Besides, I promised her that we would have one when we got here and Spike recommended a good place.”

“I still don’t think that it is a good idea,” Celestia replied, causing my smile to fall. “I am sorry, but I cannot allow this.”

“Well then, it’s too bad that I don’t care what you say,” I replied, giving Celestia a glare. “I understand your concern, but I promised Fluttershy.”

“We don’t have to go out…” Fluttershy told me, a small hint of disappointment in her voice. “We can stay here… if you want.”

“What I want is to treat you to a romantic evening,” I said giving the mare a quick kiss, causing her to blush heavily.

“Aww…” a few nearby maids cooed as they saw the scene.

“Fine,” Celestia huffed as she turned to continue forward. “But if you cause any trouble, I won't go easy on you.”

“Damn I look good,” I commented as I looked at my reflection one last time. I was currently wearing a navy blue button up shirt dark brown slacks. The only thing that looked off were my boots, but Rarity said she would have a new set of non-work shoes for me by the time I returned, so I had my fingers crossed.

“I think you look nice too,” Fluttershy giggled as she stood to my side in the same dress she wore for our first date, only she wore some make up this time. Even though I told her she didn’t need it, she still insisted on at least putting on some eyeshadow.

“Not as good as you though,” I smiled down at her before stealing a quick kiss. “You’re going to make a lot of ponies jealous of me.”

Fluttershy simply looked down at the ground with an ever growing blush and small smile.

“If you two are done complimenting each other, we can get going,” Valiant chuckled from the other side of the room. She and a Pegasus guard were going to be our escorts, which I was okay with.

“So, do either of you know where this place is?” I asked as Valiant and the other guard led the way out.

“I know the way,” the Pegusus replied in a gruff voice. He didn’t talk much, but he also didn’t seem to react much to anything. “Took my wife there for our first date. Place is pretty good.”

“How romantic,” Fluttershy coed from my side, nuzzling my hand as we walked. I really had to fight the urge to pick the mare up and just nuzzle the shit out of her.

It was weird actually. I had crush’s before and even had fantasies of being with Fluttershy, but nothing compared to actually being with her. It just felt right being around her.

Which made the whole herd thing even more awkward.

“Hope you’re ready to be the center of attention,” Valiant chuckled as we made it out of the castle's entrance. Almost immediately, every passing individual locked their eyes on me.

But instead of letting that get to me, I simply smiled and moved forward, my hand idly brushing Fluttershy’s mane as we walked. Every now and then I would notice several looks, ranging from fear to disgust. But I ignored it as I instead watched the slowly setting sun in the horizon.

“This is the place,” the Pegasus guard voiced as we came up to a moderately large restaurant called The Golden Hoof. It was a single story building that had both an outdoor and indoor venue and had a color scheme that matched everything else in Canterlot.

“Have fun you two,” Valiant giggled as she held the buildings door open for me and Fluttershy.

With a simple nod, we both walked in. Although, Valiant did smack my ass as I walked past her.

I kinda liked it.

“Welcome to The Golden Hoof,” a slightly posh voice called, drawing my attention to a waiting unicorn. He wore the top piece of a suit and had a small name tag that said something illegible to me for some reason. “Do you have a reservation?”

“Uh, yes,” I said, drawing the attendant gaze. I gave him a silent nod for keeping his cool before continuing. “There should be a reservation for two under ‘Christopher’?”

“Ah yes, right this way,” the attendant nodded, not even looking in his book. At first that worried me, but I quickly let it go when he brought us to a table right next a window.

Before anything, I quickly pulled out a chair for Fluttershy, the mare taking the seat with a bashful smile.

“Would the two of you like to hear our wine list today?” The waiter asked as he pulled out a small list from a breast pocket.

“No thanks, I’ll stick with water for now,” I replied while taking my seat.

“D-do you have any red hazelnut?” Fluttershy timidly asked as her face began to glow slightly.

“I think I know just the thing madam,” the waiter said as he wrote something down. “Your waiter should be by in just a few minutes with your drinks, enjoy.”

“Thank you,” Both I and Fluttershy said as the waiter took his leave.

“Wine huh?” I asked with a chuckle. “What’s the occasion?”

“…” Fluttershy simply looked down at the table cloth with a glowing face.

“Fluttershy, are you okay,” I asked with honest concern. While she was obviously embarrassed and worried about something. “If there’s something wrong, you know you can talk to me.”

“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy quietly replied, her ears laying flat.

“Sorry? For what?” I asked, now also confused.

“For inviting another mare into the herd,” Fluttershy replied. “I know you’re still aren’t comfortable with it yet, but I just couldn’t help myself. Oh… I can be so stupid sometimes.”

“Fluttershy, you are not stupid,” I firmly told her as I raised her chin with a free hand and looked her in the eyes. “The main reason I’m uncomfortable with it is because I was expecting to only be with you. Polygamy is a BIG no no where I’m from.”

“Do you… do you want me to end it?” Fluttershy asked with obvious disappointment in her voice.

“Fluttershy,” I sighed while rubbing my eyes. “I’m just trying to figure out why you want one. If this is what you want, than I’m not going to stop it.

“Hell, I really shouldn’t be complaining,” I finished while remembering the few times I had sex with Gilda and Valiant’s BJ.

“I just… remember seeing a small herd when I was a filly,” Fluttershy began to explain. “They were at the park like one big happy family and after seeing that, I kind of wanted one too.”

“And is it as good as you hoped?” I asked, intrigued how such a simple thing brought this want on for her.

“So far I enjoy it,” Fluttershy shrugged. “Gilda comes over all the time to learn about animals.”

“I was wondering what she did whenever I was at work,” I replied as a young unicorn stallion walked up and placed down our drinks.

“Is the couple ready to order?” the waiter asked. After making our orders, we waited for the waiter to be out of earshot before continuing.

“So how many more should I be expecting?” I asked while taking a sip of water.

“A few more…” Fluttershy timidly replied as she took a drink of her wine. I couldn’t help but chuckle at how she almost instantly went red faced. “I know that one of our friends is interested.”

“Yeah, Rarity…” I mumbled under my breath.

From there, we decided to just enjoy our night and that’s what we did.

I’m not sure how, but after dinner, we found ourselves back in our guest room. Fluttershy was out of her dress and on my lap, while I was shirtless.Nothing was said as both our mouths were preoccupied with the other.

I could easily taste the several glasses of wine the young mare in my lap had drank and like normal, her tongue found its place at the tip of my canines. As this continued, my hands slowly found their way to her soft flanks, once again squeezing them tenderly.

“O-oh Chris,” Fluttershy panted as she pulled back and looked me in the eyes, her own shining in the moonlight. “I-I think...”

“What do you think, Flutters?,” I asked, pulling back as I looked at the mare.

“I think… I’m… gonna take a nap…” and before I could even say a word, Fluttershy slumped forward, softly snoring against my chest.

“Yeah, I thought as much…” I heavily sighed before laying the mare down on the bed and tucking her in. Since I knew I wouldn’t be going to bed any time too soon, I decided to take a walk.

“I’ll be back,” I told the two guards standing outside our door while slipping my shirt back on. Valiant had left earlier saying she had a going away party she had to go to, which was probably hers.

“Please stay within the castle,” one of the guards replied as I walked off.

I gave nothing but a dismissive wave before wondering down one of the halls.

After about half an hour, I was completely lost. But amazingly, I didn’t care.

“This place is like a maze,” I chuckled to myself while taking my first left. I continued forward until a commotion caught my attention.

“WOHO!” a shout echoed from the end of the hall. Walking towards the sound, I came upon the entrance of a small mess hall that appeared to be holding an even smaller party.

Looking in, I saw several ponies sitting at one of the side tables with an assortment of food and drinks sitting in front of them. But two things really stood out about the group.

One, was that they were all mares of varying races, and that one of them looked like Spitfire. I say look because this mare was missing an important pair of wings.

“Christopher, get that flank in here!” the mare who looked like Spitfire suddenly called, smiling as she noticed me look into the room.

“Uh… me?” I asked looking around for someone who wasn’t there.

“Oh that’s right!” the mare chirped as her friends giggled. “You haven’t seen me without my armor. It’s me, Valiant Heart.”

“Heart?!” I asked in shock while walking fully into the room.

“The one and only,” Valiant proclaimed as she made her way over. She looked exactly like Spitfire from the show, only more stocky and her cutie mark was a flaming heart. “Like what you see?”

“Yeah! I mean, yeah,” I replied with an uncomfortable chuckle.

“Another one who didn’t know about the disguise enchantment,” one of Valiant’s friends chuckled.

“I bet it’s just because of how much she resembles her sister,” another giggled.

“Enough with my sister for Celestia sake!” Valiant groaned. “I am seriously contemplating getting my mane died or something.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked as I moved over to the table the group was at. There were four other mares there not including Valiant, and each one kept giving me little winks.

“Do you know who, Spitfire is?” One mare asked, ignoring the glare Valiant was giving her.

“That’s… uh, captain of the Wonderbolts, right?” I asked, fanning ignorance. “I got a friend who’s got a mareboner for her.”

The resounding laugh was well worth the embarrassment of saying mareboner.

“Well, just so happens,” Valiant began, regaining her posture. “Miss Captain, is my twin sister.”

“No shit?!” I squeaked out in shock.

“Yep,” another friend replied. “Youngest Captain of the division to date.”

“Yeah yeah,” Valiant groaned as she snatched a bottle from the table and took a large gulp. “Little miss prodigy and all. Just go ahead and forget about her sister who was top of her class.”

“Oh, don’t let it get to ya Valiant,” one of her friends said. “All the Wonderbolts are, are a bunch of show ponies.”

“That are widely known around Equestria for their skill and speed,” Valiant groaned, taking another swig. “She was always the family favorite.”

“Okay, I’m pretty sure this was not the way it was supposed to go tonight,” I sighed, taking the bottle from the mare. I took a sniff of it and quickly pulled back from how strong it was, earning more giggles from the mares.

“Yeah, well, I got something now that she don’t,” Valiant chuckled while giving me a half laden look.

“And what would that be?” I asked while risking it and taking a small swig of a nearby bottle.

“A stallion,” Valiant chuckled before jumping up and pulling me into a drunken kiss. The other mares giggled at the display before the mare decided she wanted to taste my tonsils.

“Get it, Get it!” one of the mare called as Valiant drove me to the ground and began to grind against me on the floor.

“Okay, okay!” I called, pushing the drunken mare off me a bit. “While I would like this to continue, we are in a public place and your obviously drunk.”

“Oh, they don’t mind, right girls?” Valiant giggled, smirking towards her friends while ignoring the who drunk bit.

“Uh… Valiant… you should get up now,” one of the mares hissed as all their eyes went towards the room entrance.

“What is going on in here?” a familiar male voice sounded.

“Attention on Deck!” one of the mares shouted.

For those of you who don’t know, when someone shouts that, you’re supposed to drop whatever it is you’re doing and snap to the position of attention. For a marine, it doesn’t matter who or what is in the way.

“Wah!” Valiant shouted as she was launched off my chest as I jumped to my feet and popped to attention out of instinct.

“At…ease,” an uncomfortable looking Shining Armor said as he looked at me. “You must be Christopher. The princess told me a lot about you.”

“Lies and slander!” I quickly bellowed, pointing upwards dramaticly.

“I meant Princess Luna,” Shining chuckled, the surrounding mares giggling. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I’m Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard.”

“Same here,” I chuckled while sharing a hoofshake with the stallion. “Except for the whole captain thing. Nowhere near there actually.”

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything here?” Shining asked as he looked towards Valiant, who was currently laying a few feet away.

“Just me getting lucky sir…” Valiant groaned while she got up.

“Okay… a bit too much info,” Shining replied with a sheepish smile. “I guess I’ll just take my leave now. It was great meeting you Chris, hope we can talk again. See ya!”

Without another word, Shining Armor quickly left the room, leaving me with the giggling mares.

“Now that he’s gone,” Valiant purred as she came up beside me. “Why don’t we continue where we left off… in my room?”

"Wait, Shining!" I called as Valiant pressed herself against my side. "Come back! I need an adult!"

“I’m really sorry about last night,” Fluttershy cried in my arms, her tears staining one of my sleeves. “I-I really wanted too… but I-I guess I drank to-o much.”

“It’s okay Fluttershy,” I softly reassured the mare. After waking up in bed with Valiant, the mare had brought me back to my room where I was immediately greeted by a crying Pegasus. “When its time, its time.”

“You’ll love it though when it is time,” Valiant added, standing next to me without her armor.

“I had even asked Gilda for some tips,” Fluttershy sobbed. “I’m so stupid.”

“Fluttershy, seriously, stop that,” I said, taking the mares chin and having her look me in the eyes. “You are a smart, beautiful mare. You don’t need to force yourself to do something you’re not ready for.”

“Why did you even drink beforehoof?” Valiant asked. "Took me almost an hour to convince this guy I wasn't too drunk to do anything."

“I don’t know if you know this, but I can be very shy,” Fluttershy timidly replied while pressing into me more. “And I wanted to make up for making a herd.”

“Well, when do you think you will be ready?” Valiant asked.

Whatever Fluttershy’s response was, ended up lost in translation as all I could hear were some incoherent mumbles.

“What was that Flutters?” I asked, hoping to get her to speak up.

“I s-said in two months… when I go into… heat,” Fluttershy replied, causing a silence to fill the room.

“Oh, you’re one of those mares,” Valiant said with an intrigued look. “I hear it’s like ten times better then.”

“Wait… when you’re in heat? Couldn’t you end up pregnant?” I asked getting really confused.

While in reality, such a thing shouldn’t be possible, I was in a world of magic. Plus, I had gone almost twelve hours before getting the element I wore, so something inside me was at least bound to have changed.

While Fluttershy remained silent, Heart began to giggle.

“That’s the point you idiot,” Heart replied. “She wants to have a foal.”

“What?!” I shouted out as I jumped to my feet, releasing the mare.

“I-I want my first time… to also be when I get pregnant…” Fluttershy timidly replied now looking a little sad. “I-I know I’m young and we’ve only known each other for a month. But I really think I’m ready.”

“Woah, okay, take a step back please,” I said, feeling a slight panic attack coming. “You want to have a foal… with me?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy replied as she came up and took my hand in her hooves and nuzzling it. “I really do.”

“Hey, there’s still two months to decide on all of that,” Valiant quickly interrupted, stopping me from going into a panic attack.

“Right, right,” I said while looking down at the hopeful mare currently holding my hand.

“Good marrow everypony!” a boisterous voice suddenly shouted as the room’s door flew open, the lunar princess walking in. “Art thou ready for thine training?”

“Princess,” the two ponies replied with a bow while I simply nodded, the mood from a few seconds ago now suddenly gone.

“Don’t you think its still kinda early?” I asked, still a little uncomfortable from a few moments before.

“It is never too early to train, young one!” Luna smiled as she walked forward, her eyes quickly finding Valiant Heart. “Captain Spitfire, what has happened to your wings?”

Author's Notes:

Quote that title!

hint: Its from an anime